


Flight Training

by KarkatHorns



Series: No Fly Zone [1]
Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: All the boys need some love, Allura and Coran are elves, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, But Elves have been dead longer than dragons have been dead, Dragons, Fantasy, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, I kind of get specific with Garrison regulations, Just because the main boys end up together does not mean that I forget about Pidge, M/M, Multi, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge is gonna be so cool in this fic don't even worry, Shhhhhh don't worry about it, Technology exists but is just slightly old, but it's fine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 07:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12552152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarkatHorns/pseuds/KarkatHorns
Summary: Lance, Shiro, Keith, Hunk, and Pidge find something that has been thought to have died thousands of years ago: Full sized dragons.It's Hunk, Pidge, and Lance's first year of Flight School. It's Keith's second year. The Garrison aside, there's something really suspicious about the city and it's up to the five of them to investigate when a strange comet appears in the sky, and war between countries create problems. Five dragons? An elvish Princess and her advisor? Ancient, Undead magic? Sometimes things just aren't as they seem.





	1. New Horizons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my new Dragon AU fic. There's not enough Shklunk content and I thought I would make an attempt to fix that. Please enjoy. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to talk to me at http://www.askingvoltron.tumblr.com/

Hunk isn’t quite sure why the seminar for the Garrison is quite so long, or why it seems so redundant. Most of the information being presented are things that most people from the same country already know by default. International students might not have had this information pounded into their skulls from childhood, but there were so few of them that it would make sense for there to be a separate briefing.

A man in uniform, named Iverson, looks unhappy to be there. His uniform is sharp and polished, and he’s missing an eye. Hunk wanders if he really did lose one to a dragon, or if those rumors were as unfounded on the same level as the rumor the school was built on an Elvish Burial Ground. Iverson talks away, but Hunk decides to listen with the worry that there might be something that he’s missed.

“The Garrison is the top flight school in the country of Tierra. It’s four large towers are even smaller than the main building of the capital Chikyū, located in Nar Tellus County, one of three of the most populated cities in Tierra. The school, well known in the nation, also was known for amazing success in the country’s history,” Iverson starts. He walks from one side of the stage to another, clicker in hand and projector displaying the images of these respective places.

He goes on to talk about the experiments being conducted on dragons, but even Hunk starts to zone him out. It’s nerves, more than anything else. The school requires a thorough physical exam, along with a paper test. It requires over 300 hours of documented community service, vaccinations, and every piece of paperwork imaginable in terms of medical information and family history. The paper test is known as the ASVAB, and is taken in High School voluntarily. According to the Tierran government, “The ASVAB is a multiple-aptitude battery that measures developed abilities and helps predict future academic and occupational success in the military.” According to the people taking it, it’s just another unnecessary standardized test that shows that a kid is good at memorization and says nothing about their ability to work together. After all of the work it took to get in, the entry presentation just seems underwhelming.

It’s not like the Garrison would talk about their failures, anyway. In magic history, there is an island off the coast of the Oceani Pacificus. The first scientists documented that it always looks as if it’s just within reach, maybe a 50 foot swim away. Because of optical illusions related to the mist on the beaches, it’s unreachable entirely. Boats and people alike can set sail for it, but the island will always look closer than it actually appears. It’s said that the ocean can only be reached by Dragon, but those rare, near-extinct creatures would never allow for that. It’s not that the legends speak of dragons, but rather, most of them have evolved over time into other creatures entirely. Like the many species of dogs, there are creatures evolved from dragons that are so far removed by DNA that the original dragons are just creatures in history books and science fiction movies.

The island, most accessable from Plutonian Beach, is known as Kerberos. It was once said that the key to unlocking Dragon History is to understand their native lands. The humans sent out on the mission, Takashi Shirogane, Samuel Holt, and Mathew Holt, were responsible for bringing back samples of plants and different types of soil. Ice or water, if they could find any. However, broadcasts showed later on that the magical aircraft used was lost due to Pilot Error, a disaster that would leave its mark permanently on Tierran history. Any ice samples or data they were hoping to get from the place are unreachable now, meaning that the Garrison’s financial nightmare of a mission did not lead anywhere at all. Their hopes of learning more about Dragons did nothing to save the three lives lost that day.

Despite all the research, it’s not like Dragons don’t exist anymore. Sort of. They tend to be so small they can barely survive without machinery keeping them stable, so frail that they die easily when exposed to bacteria and really high or low weather conditions. They’re like domesticated dogs, chihuahuas, compared to the original wolves they evolved from. Then there are certain types of lizards, snakes, birds, and other creatures evolved from them that are so far removed that it genuinely does not matter how much scientists study them. They offer no new insight at all.

Iverson’s words cut into the anxious ramblings of Hunk’s thoughts, reminding him that he should still really be paying attention. “The Garrison has been making the country proud by producing the most stable dragons in the world today, intending on making the large beasts as tame as humanly possible. We have three main specimen right now that are as close to the original dragons as currently scientifically possible. Whether you are here for the fighter pilot track, the cargo pilot tract, the engineering tract, the maintenance tract, the cyber security tract, the chemistry tract, or the phsyics design tract, know that your work here is something to be proud of. We are the best military school in the nation, and as of today you are all Garrison Soldiers in Training. Cadets. That means you need to follow the following rules and regulations:”

Hunk would groan if the room weren’t so quiet. Dorming regulations, reminders to keep their spaces clean, reminders that they can be randomly inspected at any time and that they have to fold their sheets and make their bed a certain way. It’s a bit redundant, with those being on the book of Rules and Regulations that each new cadet is required to have and read. Cadets will dorm with each other regardless of gender, the showers are communal, any breaking of the rules will be immediately upheld to the strictest standards of the law, uniform inspections, drilling, and other things.

“As a reminder, this is a military program. As first-year students, your basic training is different from those of other years. Everything, of course, is done by military time. You all have standard PT at oh-six-hundred hours. You will be divided into different groups in order to do so. Cadets with physical limitations granted by waivers upon admission have PT at oh-eight-hundred hours. For all of you, regardless of what squadron you are in, you will have lunch at oh-eighty-three-hundred hours. From there, you have different timeslots and schedules based on the program you were admitted for. As mentioned previously, this program can change as a result of scores and other factors being added in. However, leaving the program constitutes a military discharge. Whether that is medical, honorable, or dishonorable will be up to each of you.”

At the end of the program, Iverson calls all the cadets to Attention, and they all march outside to conduct basic physical training drills and meet their professors. The lack of people to talk to, and the lack of anything interesting going on, made Hunk wish that at the very least he could find himself a new friend.

\---

Lance is absolutely exhausted by the time dinner rolls around. The fighter pilot class has the worst PT out of all the others. Mechanics, Support, and the other Squadrons still did some hard workouts and were left sore and beat by the end of the 2 and a half hours. Cargo and Fighter Pilots were two steps above that, endurance training and running so long and hard that one of the kids threw up. Dehydration wasn’t much a problem, but the instructors were giving the cadets Gatorade and other forms of flavored water to make up for the salt lost from all the sweating. Lance was left feeling dizzy and sore, though he was one of the few that didn’t mind all the running. Because not every pilot can become a Fighter, the incoming Fighter applicants must train with the Cargo Applicants. If their grades aren’t high enough, then they won’t make it into the limited fighter slots and get thrown into a Cargo seat. If they don’t meet the criteria for a Cargo Pilot, they can then get transferred to flight checking and lower level management and get thrown into a Support Squadron. Lance was going to be aiming for the top, and nothing else would suffice.

His family at home is waiting for him at home on Cuba. Tierra is a country, but Terra is the name of the continent. It doesn’t span the entirety of it, but most of it. 7 of the 8 Tierran States are North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. On top of those is one of the large land masses attached to the continent by an organic land bridge. This mass is another state, known as Isla. They’re made of the large land mass as well as the islands close by and bridged over to them, and one of those is known as Cuba. The Tierran flag is an ancient sigil from the legend of the Elves, supposedly a crest from the Elven family from a man named King Alfor, surrounded by 8 interlocking rings with a star in each, made to represent each of the states.

His parents and siblings would be waiting to hear from him as much as possible during his time at the Garrison. They can call every two weeks, and each cadet has a span of 30 minutes where they can call home and catch up. It’s different for every cadet, but for Lance it overlaps with one of his slots of free time on Saturdays. If the first day was already this strenuous, then he can’t even imagine what the rest of his time here would be. At the very least, some interaction with a pretty girl or two would be sure to lift his spirits.

\---

Pidge is very, very glad that there are so many cadets. Even with their old identity banned from the place, even higher ups have been unable to recognize their identity. Banned after breaking into Galra databases to find out what happened to their parents, they had to resort to expensive fake identities and lots of hard work to make this whole thing pay off. Their figure has also been helpful with their disguise, hair color slightly darker now after being cut. They’ve never been so thankful for the change in their appearance, glad that even the glasses they’ve obtained from their brother aren’t a giveaway to who they really are.

They don’t have permanent bunkmates yet, at least. Freshman sleep in a large area lined with beds, meant to house basic supplies and be easier to inspect. There’s maybe 15 to a room, and there’s too many people to pay attention to. Because of how hard it is to get into the program, there aren’t many kids fooling around or making a joke out of their situation. Unlike a regular military program, the criteria for entry is so high that people don’t want to find themselves getting in trouble. Cutting classes might just be a decline in overall score, but starting physical fights and breaking equipment cause a lot more harm. People can’t get away with as much, and people that get caught committing actual crimes get penalized twice as hard for them because it counts as a military crime. There’s a different court system for that entirely, and that’s what makes Pidge’s situation so dire.

It’s the first day, and they’ve already been penalized for talking out of term to an instructor. It was a comment in relation to the Kerberos mission, and had fired them up so much they had talked while they were meant to be at Attention. Every cadet starts with something known as a 341 grade. It’s a grade, out of 100, added to their class scores in a point system. Every final grade is out of 100, and Cadets take 4 classes at a time. However, extra credit is expected of every cadet. To be a cargo pilot, a score of 700 is needed. To be a Fighter Pilot, a score of 900 is needed. Other categories require 100s in specific classes. The extra points come from any and all simulation grades. A passed, extra simulation score can add 75 points to a grade. Above average scoring can go as high as 115, in the case of Takashi Shirogane, for one simulation alone. If a person fails a simulation they are not required to take for class, then they do not lose any points. However, simulations taken during class are sometimes test grades and will be averaged in with quizzes and homework, depending on what is being studied.

However, the 341 grade is very odd in comparison to everything else. Everybody starts at 85. If a squadron messes up, everybody’s grades can go down by a certain number of points. Group penalties are usually a three or five point charge. They can be as high as 20 in given circumstances, though. Student penalties are individual and are usually 5 or 10 points. They can be as high as 60 depending on what was done wrong. Staying behind to help clean up classrooms, helping tutor other students, helping train other students in the simulators, and being a good cadet are positive 341 grades. It’s a score that people can use to override bad class performance and other abilities, especially if they want to be on a pilot course and don’t have the grades for it. Pidge’s score is already a 75 for the first outburst, and a score of 30 warrants a disciplinary hearing. A score of 0, or a negative score, warrants an investigation, and might result in a cadet being sent to the conduct office to do forced community service. Those students also must see a counselor weekly until their score is 75 again, and are afterwards given the option to keep seeing the counselor so that their 341 grade doesn’t go down again. People are encouraged to see the counselor assigned to their squadron at least four times a year to make sure that their scores are correct and that they are on track for what they applied for.

Infamously, according to records that Pidge may or may not have gotten themselves into, there is a student by the name of Keith Kogane. He’s a second year, and has gotten into three fights with other cadets. His first penalty was a -45 341, while his second was a -50. He was bringing his score up by helping clean up classrooms and cleaning the mats and other equipment in some of the training rooms. He polished rifles for the drill team as well, and helped with the equipment for the color guard. That got his grade back up to 90, but the second penalty reduced him to 40. More work brought it up to about 55 before his third fight gave him a -60 341, bringing his 341 grade to a -5. He was almost removed from the Garrison after that, but his conduct hearing brought his grade back up to 30 and he has to see a counselor weekly. People heard about the fights and rumors travel fast, but absolutely everybody has been trying to steer clear of the kid. By the way they talk about it, it’s like they have absolutely no idea when he’s “going to strike next”.

Normally, this information would be completely irrelevant to Pidge. This kid has no relation, only ever used two of his family calls, and just seems to be a source of trouble. However, that has nothing to do with how Pidge got their hands on his file. It was one of the few things with a tie back to the Kerberos Mission over a year ago: he seemed to be directly involved somehow with Takashi Shirogane.

\---

There are many things that second-years can do, that first-years cannot. For Keith, that means having his own car. It’s an old red thing, but it was a gift from his friend Shiro before he went off on his mission, and it was special to him. Second-years are also allowed to have their own phone lines in their rooms, while first-years have a specific time and place where they’re allowed to call out. Keith only ever had one person to call, so this was something he neither noticed or cared about.

It’s been weird, without Shiro around. Shiro was a guiding presence in his life, ever constant and always shining. He was the only person with the patience or focus to get Keith to come out of his shell, trying to better his communication skills and guide him into being a better cadet. If he wasn’t so genuine of a person, it absolutely wouldn’t have worked.

Keith was in it for the paycheck. Being in the Garrison means access to schooling and technology he absolutely could not get his hands on otherwise. It means having a place to sleep at night, every night, and getting free access to food and structure. From a person without a family, that means a lot to him. The strict schedules and rules mean nothing to somebody who, in a way, feels as if they are working for an actual living. Because cadets cannot hold a job while they are in the Garrison, they are given monthly checks. As freshman, it’s enough for snacks and toys and replacing ripped uniforms. Black shoe shine for their uniforms. Metal polish for belt buckles. It’s enough to get by and some, with some cadets sending their money back to their home states to their family to help them out financially. For Keith, that money just ended up sitting around in his bank account accumulating interest, with nowhere else for it to really go. He wasn’t one to buy things, and only really needs it for gasoline when he’s taking the car out for a ride during his free time before curfew on weekends.

However, things haven’t been too great for him since Shiro left. He’s left snappy and on-edge, doing his work but not listening to instructions. Shiro was his friend, but also his tutor, and his grades were dropping down to a level that the Garrison absolutely does not find practical. He is at the top of his class for flying, but those are words with little significance to him now that he has nothing he’s truly fighting for. Before it was just a means to make a living. Then it was a way of measuring up to somebody else, following in the footsteps of somebody he genuinely cared for. Now, those footsteps are there, but there’s no more past a point, and it’s clear and obvious. He isn’t sure if he even wants to follow them anymore. He just wants some peace and quiet from their shapes.

He isn’t sure what he wants anymore.

\---

Hunk and Lance have their Leadership Education and Aerospace Science classes together. Hunk is shy, but Lance talks enough for the both of them, and they’re quick to get along. The Garrison reveals who got into what class halfway through the year, and Lance is hopeful. He’s failing every simulation, but his 341 grade is so high that it absolutely makes up for it. Hunk is on track to meet the tract for the Support Class, but is beating that requirement by a longshot. His grades are phenomenal for his Engineering Basics class, as well as his Automation and Machinery workshop. His 341 grades are just as large as Lance, and they start working together to help teachers. Lance usually helps train others through some of the more dexterous workouts to help them with the agility side of PT, while Hunk fixes broken machinery for teachers and tutors some of the students that don’t quite get the material.

 

Pidge means to go talk to Keith before the six month mark, but he’s gotten into another fight with a cadet, and broke their arm. His 341 grade is a 35, but he hasn’t been seen around lately and Pidge isn’t exactly sure what to say to him. They want to know everything about his relationship to her family and Takashi Shirogane, but it’s a sore topic and bringing it up will blow their cover. Still, they’re a very inquisitive person, and they feel like they have to know or else they will never get the chance again.

Keith isn’t doing so great. His grades are slipping. His 341 grade is falling. He was the top of his class as a first-year, and his simulator scares are still so high that nobody else can compete with him. Many have tried, but he isn’t interested in causing any trouble on purpose. Somebody brought up Shiro’s crash due to Pilot Error while he was already not doing so great, and he had punched them. The kid fought back and managed to give Keith a couple of bruises, but Keith had gone in and flipped the other cadet, snapping their arm like a toothpick in the hall. After that he was practically arrested, the kid sent to the infirmary while he was sent directly to conduct as an Emergency Case. He starts skipping classes because they’re more trouble than they’re worth.

From there, it’s only 20 days from the 6 month mark and Keith Kogane is still technically a Fighter Pilot. Lance is furious with the name, seeing that he didn’t make any of the Fighter Pilot seats despite his overall score. According to the school, while he met the minimum scores for the program, people’s scores beat him out of the seat, so it didn’t matter. The person who got his seat had only two more points than him. It was unfair, and he was angry, but there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it. Hunk has no complaints, seeing that he’s now an Official member of the Support Squadron. Lance decides that from this day on, he has to be at the top. He will absolutely destroy the scores of Keith Kogane if it kills him. He needs, more than anything, to be a Fighter Pilot because he wants to prove himself. Hunk, in a way, feels like he’s involved, despite not truly knowing Lance for all that long. It hasn’t been a full year yet, but somehow they have slipped together like two peas in a pod. It was seamless, and they’re good friends, but it still feels as if something is missing. From Hunk’s perspective, anyways.

\---

Keith Kogane is another name that is no longer allowed to be anywhere near the Garrison. He’s been dishonorably discharged from the military after assaulting an Officer by the name of Iverson. He’s never allowed back, and he will never be able to get a job anywhere else in the country no matter how hard he tries. The Garrison covers it up by saying that he dropped out of the program, mixing in lies with truth. Keith had skipped classes, and his scores were now too low for any class, and he would have flunked out by definition. Iverson is furious, but emphasizes that the kid had flunked out in order to make an example out of him. Lance join the Fighter Pilots course when the Month 8 scores are posted, and is absolutely ecstatic. Of course, Hunk is with him too.

“I made it! I'm a fighter pilot. Hasta la later, Keith!” he chimes, finally feeling victorious. Hunk is genuinely happy for his friend, seeing all the hard work that Lance had put in. If anything, Lance absolutely deserves this. He was the top of the Cargo Pilot Class after all, score and all. Even in the Fighter Class, he had slightly more points than the lowest ranking person. It was a victory on top of a victory for him.

“And look, you're my engineer,” Lance adds, sweetening the victory. Hunk is a little surprised by this, mostly due to the fact that despite his amazing scores for the Support Course, that did not help with the fact that he tended to get amazingly motion sick.

“Cool. Uh, can I do that from the ground?” he asks, though he gets no reply. Lance is still reading from the form on the wall, unaffected by Hunk’s comment.

“And our communications officer is... Who the heck is Pidge Gunderson?” Lance asks, genuinely.

A small voice chimes in. “Right here,” they call. Hunk is pretty sure that he shares their Leadership Education Class, though Hunk is not taking the Communications course. Because the Garrison does work with Dragons, their program is so large that they have people doing drastically different things on a constant basis.

Lance moves in to introduce himself. “Welcome to the team, Gunderson. I'm Lance, your fighter pilot.” He says the words fighter pilot with pride, absolutely full of himself, and absolutely having every right to be.

“Hey, I'm Hunk,” Hunk adds, following Lance’s introduction.

“We got a lot of great times ahead, so we should probably start bonding now. What do you say we sneak out of campus?” he adds, slightly contradicting the fact that he had worked so hard to get into the fighter program. To be fair, being on base so often makes all the first years claustrophobic. The upperclassmen can leave on weekends, but first years need to stay on campus. There is plenty to do, but eight months of the same thing is claustrophobic to anybody. They’ve done some small things to get in trouble with while at The Garrison, sure, but so has most of the freshman.

Iverson’s voice trails in from down the hall, ordering one of the officers on Security Detail. “Security for the Galaxy Garrison's mainframe is our first priority. It's been breached once. And by a little girl, no less. It can not happen again!” he orders. This is absolutely none of Hunk’s business, so he barely catches it. It’s only because Iverson’s voice is so booming that he heard it at all.

Iverson walks by, and they’re quick to salute the officer as mandated by rank alone. Pidge’s is the first to go up, but they seem nervous, which is fair. Iverson isn’t exactly the nicest person around.

“Wrong arm, cadet,” he calls. He spares them the 341 because they saluted in the first place, so it’s not worth taking one of those slips out to write a -3. He disappears from view, and Pidge sighs.

“I absolutely want to go out to town and grab some Pizza. There’s that city down in Nar Tellus, Chikyū, which has the cutest girl I’ve ever seen working the front desk. She say my uniform last time we went out, and said that she has a thing for astronauts,” Lance comments, up on his feet like he’s already prepared to go. Hunk is anxious about the whole thing, but Pizza sounds really good.

“As long as we don’t get caught. I don’t want to mop the floors of the communal bathrooms like last time. That was really gross,” Hunk comments.

Pidge doesn’t look like he’s paying attention in the slightest, and Lance takes note of this.

“Hello? Pizza? Girls? Astronauts?” he asks, as if the decision is obvious and as if they’ve known Pidge for a long time.

 

“Sorry, I don't have time to mess around with you guys. See you in the simulator,” he replies, and Hunk watches as he abruptly leaves, wondering if they’ve somehow offended him. He would feel really bad if they did. Or if he didn’t feel a little bad already. Maybe Pidge just wasn’t very social?

Lance huffs. “What's his problem?”

\---

After a while, Lance realizes they don’t know a lot about Pidge. He’s already besties with Hunk. Probably because he’s so great and charming that people just naturally flock to him. Which would explain why he only has one friend and hasn’t had a girlfriend yet. Yeah, that. Sure.

Back on the note of Pidge, Lance is sure that he hasn’t come out of his shell yet because he’s shy. That, or he’s really socially awkward. The three of them failed the simulator together on their first day, which resulted in him covering up for Pidge while Iverson yelled. Lance was willing to take the grade penalty for that, but Iverson had let it go. Lance would call it an act of kindness, but he doesn’t like Iverson in the slightest, so he’s going to take it that the old man’s hands are too wrinkly to hold 341 sheets. They’re too heavy for his brittle, gross hands. Or maybe he can’t see what he’s writing because he only has one eye left. Any of these options, as dumb as they might be, are still pretty hilarious.

On their way to sneak out to the usual pizza stop, Lance and Hunk can see that Pidge is heading up the top stairwell. To the roof. Of one of the Garrison’s four observatory pillars.

“Where is he going?” Lance asks, following after without really checking to see if Hunk was behind him. He’s sure the big guy is anxious, but this is the time for questions.

They slip up onto the roof of the right tower, where they are absolutely not permitted to be, and Pidge is there with some strange looking boxes set up to a small TV. There’s small earbuds in his ears because TVs with speakers are so expensive, which makes the situation a bit strange. Lance sneaks up behind him and pulls one out, whispering in his ear.

“You come up here to rock out?”

Pidge gasps loudly, whipping around so quickly that Lance is sure that his back cracked in the process.

“Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just looking at the stars.”

Even Lance, who isn’t in any tech classes, can tell that this technology has absolutely nothing to do with star analysis. He has no idea what Pidge has to hide, or why, but he’s very blunt about it.

“Man where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech.”

Pidge looks coy. “I built it.”

Hunk, who has a much better grasp on technology, chimes in. “You built all of this?” He leans forward and adjusts what looks like a TV antenna, which Pidge smacks his hand for, telling him to stop it.

“With this thing, I can listen to radio calls from all the way at the edge of the continent. Through the desert, at least.”

The desert? That’s pretty specific. The country is strange in how it’s divided, leaving entire gaps in maps where territory has been left to its native people and is legally required to be left alone. There is a desert separated from the country by large, towering fences. Because the land is legally not anybody’s property, anybody is allowed in. However, there are no protections in place for people that get hurt while there, and the laws don’t count whatsoever. There’s some native tribes out, but nothing of significant value. Out past the great fence is another fence where the desert ends, where there are some forests and villages. Past that, however, is Plutonian beach.

“That right? All the way to Kerberos?” Lance questions, picking up on it fast. Pidge groans.

“You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What's your deal?” Lance adds, unsure. He doesn’t notice, but Hunk reaches out to continue trying to touch the equipment. He’s a really tactile guy, so Lance feels like he’s somewhat immune to it.

“Second warning, Hunk!” Pidge calls. Hunk groans, caught. His hands lower into his lap.

This entire situation doesn’t read well for any of them. Pidge is breaking Garrison rules, but Lance and Hunk also broke Garrison rules by sneaking into the kitchen a few times and stealing food. Plus, all their trips to the Pizza place, which Pidge absolutely knows about. Pidge could get in trouble for this, sure, but it would all wrap around on them if Pidge told the Garrison how many times Lance and Hunk violated curfew. Hell, the three of them were violating it all right now.

“Look, Pidge, if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets,” Lance starts. He paces himself carefully, but absolutely attempts to take charge of the situation.

“Fine. The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake-- Stop touching my equipment!” Pidge yells, snapping at Hunk. He groans again, caught, and Lance would have laughed if this situation wasn’t so dangerous for the three of them.

Pidge continues. “I made my own radio that can listen to Garrison transmissions. I’ve been working on this for a while. I thought I could find a way to listen in towards where Kerberos Island is, but I’ve been picking up on strange Garrison intelligence. Strange, classified feeds talking about Dragons. On top of that, I think I’ve been picking up on… Elven radio chatter.”

As sketchy as the Garrison is, they were getting paid a monthly salary as cadets to ignore that sort of thing. And here Pidge was, looking straight into it. The fact that The Garrison, a large military research facility, is going weird stuff, is far from a surprise. But the Elven? That’s just impossible.

Hunk is startled. “Woah. What? Aliens?”

Lance shrugs his shoulders. “Okay. So you’re insane. Got it.”

“I'm serious. They keep repeating one word, "Voltron." And tonight, it's going crazier than I have ever heard it,” Pidge adds, defensive.

Now that doesn’t sound as crazy, though it’s still pretty bad. “How crazy?” Lance questions.

It’s Iverson’s voice that comes in now, blaring from the intercom from the building, loud and deafening.

“Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: all students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW, I ended up using a lot of the dialogue from the show to try and parallel that these are very much the same characters. I changed things around, obviously, to fit this version of the canon. Things will diverge more into their own thing next chapter, especially with everything relating to Shiro and Keith actually taking place. Next chapter will also have Lance and the others meeting his Dragon, Blue, and that will be a whole lot of fun to write. Sorry if this seems boring at first. I just like rambling. 
> 
> When written from the perspective of others, Pidge's pronouns will be he. They will correct everybody later on, maybe a little earlier compared to the show. We will have to see.


	2. Feeling Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins meet Allura and Coran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW I really wanted to introduce Blue so I just went straight back to writing after finishing Chapter 1, and now in 24 hours I have wrote 10k words. Sorry for any Typos. It is 1am and I am very tired.

After the lockdown, students could be heard moving back into their dorms while officers rushed to escort them to their rooms. Nobody thought to check the roof, seeing that it is meant to be off-limits, but if they went out the same way they came in, there would be trouble. Pidge can tell that this is no time for fun and games, and they begin to pack their stuff into a backpack. They’re careful with their equipment, keeping it all offline in case they get caught. They aren’t in uniform, and they would all have a lot to answer to if something happened to them.

There’s a steak of light in the sky, leaving a trail behind it as it comes crashing down. It’s bright, like a bomb. Hunk is the first one to talk.

“What's going on? Is that a meteor? A very, very big meteor?”

Lance’s eyes are transfixed on the bolt of light crashing in from seemingly the sky, the form of a magic aircraft like the ones that the Garrison have been working on for a long time. Hunk raised his hands to keep the light from his eyes, staring at it while Pidge finished packing up, pausing to look as well. “It’s a ship.”

Unlike a jet, the craft has absolutely no wing and seems to be using magic energy alone to power it. The amount of magic on Terra is so low that it needs to be carefully manifested, and the government has horded a lot of it. The fact that any vessel can fly with it alone means there must be some sort of untapped mine out there, a source of magic beyond their wildest dreams. It has to be elven. Some form of it, at the very least. There is no other explanation.

Also piecing together the logic, Lance adds in. “Holy crow! I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours.”

Pidge looks over. “No. It's one of theirs.”

Noting the Elvish design, Hunk just looks shocked. “So, wait. There really are aliens out there?”

Adjusting the straps on their back, Pidge gets ready to leave immediately. They can’t use the stairwell, but the shutdown wouldn’t have worked on the external emergency staircase leading outside of the building. They would just need to be careful to not get caught by any of the guards. Especially not with their equipment and knowledge that there might be foul play going on here.

Pidge hears Lance nudging Hunk, who absolutely seems like he doesn’t want to come. “Hunk, come on!” He probably wants to go back to his room and wait for this whole thing to blow over. He has no real investment in this situation, so Pidge honestly can’t blame him.

Hunk sighs. “Oh, this is the worst team-building exercise ever.” He moves to climb down the equivalent of the fire escape, Pidge scaling down with the others by their side.

\---

The trio ends up in the desert, past the wall. There are no laws here, and while the effect is probably purely psychological, Hunk thinks it feels somehow colder. They find a view on one of the nearby cliffs, staying low to the ground to avoid being seen. There’s a large tent, set up like a makeshift med bay, surrounding a trail and a crater where the ship must have landed and crashed. Lance has binoculars, while Hunk is surveying the area as best as he can. Pidge is using the radio scanner once more, and Hunk feels the compulsive need to touch it and figure out exactly what it’s doing. At the same time, it feels like his heart is in his throat. He’s not sure it’s safe here, and there are no promises that the three of them won’t end up in major trouble because of this whole thing.

There’s nothing but Pidge’s audio scanner to work with, guards crawling all over the place. One of them is a girl, and Lance comments on it, only for Pidge to smack his arm and tell him to pay attention to the bigger picture. Hunk can see the expensive equipment and soldiers all around, and knows very well that there is not good thing in this situation at all. Even as Garrison Cadets, they technically are not in the country right now. There are no laws here. If somebody decided to shoot them, they’re in for a whole lot of trouble.

Pidge gasps where he’s listening to the feeds, and both Hunk and Lance look over for an explanation.

“I can listen in to their radio chatter. They’re saying they have a hold of Kerberos Mission Pilot Takashi Shirogane,” he explains, leaving Hunk a little lost while Lance’s eyes widen.

“That guy’s my hero! Are they bringing him back?” Lance questions. Pidge lifts up a single finger, asking for some momentary silence while he continues to listen in.

“They’re saying that they are going to put him under, because his arm is causing difficulty. I can’t understand their code this time. They’re going to try and put him under. I don’t think they’re going to be sending him home,” Pidge comments, worried. Lance sits up straight, and Hunk isn’t sure how to react to the new information. His palms are sweaty.

Pidge speaks again. “We have to get him out.”

Hunk shakes his head. “Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren't we watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?”

Lance shakes his head, his expression the same as when he finds a way to break a rule or do something sly. “That was before we were properly motivated. We've just got to think. Could we tunnel in?”

Before Hunk can respond, Pidge beats him to it. “Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs.”

Hunk huffs. “Or we dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary - little late-night snack. And also not potentially get caught, outside of the country, by armed guards.”

Lance, seemingly ignoring Hunk’s previous point, looks like he’s thinking. “...No. What we need is a distraction.”

As suddenly as the words are said, there’s an explosion from another side of the desert. Multiple smaller explosions fan out, leaving behind green fire in their wake. The trio all yell at the unexpected noise, Pidge getting to his feet. “Is that dragonbreath?”

Hunk’s heartbeat was already loud and clear, but he was genuinely sure that he was going to have a heart attack from the stress of this situation alone. Not to mention all of the actual danger they were going to be in if they didn’t head back as soon as possible. “Is that the aliens? _Is that the aliens?_ Are they here? They got here so quick!” he stammers, Pidge quick to assure him.

“No, those explosions were a distraction, for him. The Garrison's headed toward the blast, and he's sneaking in from the other side,” Pidge explains, a red car driving over the dirt road at full speed. Hunk’s startled by Lance’s immediate anger.

“No way! Oh, he is not going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!”

“Who is it?” Hunk questions.

“Keith!” Lance snaps, immediately.

“…Kogane?” Pidge adds, the name only clicking back to the file. This situation is only raising more questions.

“Are you sure?” Hunk asks, not being able to recognize the driver by what little they could see of his figure. Lance sounds downright irritated, already getting up and ready to go. Hunk follows after, Pidge once again putting all of their stuff back into their bag.

“Oh, I’d recognize that mullet anywhere!” Lance exclaims, and Hunk is sure he’s never seen Lance quite so angry before.

\---

After rescuing Shiro, Keith nearly kills them all by driving down a hill so steep that he absolutely destroyed the front of his car, hurting his leg but otherwise being completely fine. They head out as quickly as Keith can drive with his now damaged vehicle, until they hit a cabin out far from the wall. There’s nothing around that could signify where to find this place, so Keith just found it convenient.

He still has no idea who his three new guests are, though. They had shown up to help him rescue Shiro, the tall and skinny one being the first to try and help him lift Shiro with such force that Keith was left genuinely lost for a moment. It was one of the cargo pilots, he could vaguely remember. A different year from him, so he didn’t find any need to pay much attention. Not with everything else going on.

And yet, the desert feels like it’s whispering to Keith. Like there’s something in the air, drawning and pulling him in. Something that drew him further and further into the desert, like an itch just under the surfact of his skin that he couldn’t scratch. It didn’t hurt, but it felt like he was without something. Lacking something as important and vital as water, and suddenly dehydrated. He felt like this energy, though different, was a part of him in some way he couldn’t explain in words.

Out in safety, Keith can clearly see Shiro’s arm. It’s an arm, or at least in the shape of one, but it’s slightly transparent. Like something had stripped a layer of reality from it. It was like a shadow of his other arm, and seemed fine in terms of touch and holding things. However, it was very obviously not a part of him. He could see where it was coming out from Shiro’s skin, scarred where it’s attached. He knows well enough to talk about it.

The other two in the cabin are two people he has never met before. Somebody that he felt might be a girl, with their size and figure, and the other a large boy with curved features. He just gave the impression of somebody soft by nature, while the Cargo Pilot seemed aggressive at put off by being in the same room as Keith. He doesn’t know why, but he can’t blame a person for their feelings, so he doesn’t bother to ask or pry.

With the others drinking water and having time to calm their racing hearts, the silence has gone on long enough for Keith to approach his long lost friend. Shiro is outside, looking out into the desert as if on watch for any kind of threat. Keith approaches him, careful, and lightly moves his hand so that his fingertips ghost over Shiro’s shoulder, clasping it fondly. Words find him.

“It's good to have you back.”

“It's good to be back.”

\---

Though some group interaction and debate, they work together to go out in search for Voltron. Shiro, explaining things to the group back at the cabin, explained that he can’t remember much of anything now. He knows that there is a group of people known as the Galra, who are looking for a weapon by the name of Voltron. He knows that he escaped captivity and came back to Terra, to warn them. He also explained that while him and the other had been abducted from Kerberos, they had been taken out to another continent. Due to ancient magic, the continents are not connected, and going out at sea results in sailors never coming back. Terra is a large enough continent that each state had been its own country, at one point in time. It was then unified under one leader, a few hundred years in the past, elected into place. Because of this, trade was not difficult and the country had been maintaining itself, the same way it did with trade between the old nations before they were converted into the States. Nation States.

To be on another continent was as ridiculous as going to the moon. It required magic and travel that human beings haven’t been able to do since Elves roamed the earth and Dragons ran off with livestock. The Garrison exists because some lands are reachable by sky when they are infused with magical properties. Boats infused with magical properties could be sent out, but never came back, and never made further contact. Aircraft could theoretically contact one of the other continents separated by the ocean, if they were infused with enough magic. However, the lack of magic as a result of it dying out thousands of years ago meant that a force needed to come into power that allowed for these things to exist. Aircraft is good for fast travel from state to state without the use of trains, seeing that travel can easily take months without it. Magic, harvested slowly over time, can be used as a form of payment by the Garrison, who harvests it to make aircraft that can one day be used to travel across the planet by imitating how the dragons of old traveled across the globe. Without them, long travel has long died.

Shiro going to another continent meant that he was captured by a force with more magic than they could even dream of. It meant power, and a pure and raw danger. If these people, already powerful, wanted a weapon of mass destruction from Terra, then that means they would be in more trouble than could ever be described. For Lance, this means that Isla would be in danger. It borders the sea, after all, and is an easy target. His family would be in danger. Hunk’s family is from Samoa, which is another one of the cities in Isla. That wouldn’t be good for him, either.

And so, the three of them set out with Pidge’s modified equipment and Hunk’s Voltron Geiger Counter. Talking the while, until they finally reached a large cave. Hunk and Pidge look amazed, hands tracing the dragon carvings on the walls. Shiro looks lost.

“What are these?”

Keith answers. “These are the lion carvings I was telling you about. They're everywhere around here.”

The group continues looking over the carvings and marks, until they happen to find a circular sigil on the ground near the back of the cave’s entranceway. Lance finds himself feeling like he’s zoning out, drawn to the cave like a man dying of dehydration being drawn to water. He feels himself moving as if he isn’t even in control of his own body, oddly suddenly at peace. The world is a blur of brilliant Blue. He can hear the others talking, but it’s like they are all suddenly very far away. It’s strange. Lance finds himself moving into the large glyph on the floor, sitting down in the center like he’s suddenly loss the force of weight in both his legs. It’s almost like falling, and he’s so amazingly dizzy that for a second he can’t tell if the room is spinning or if it’s him. His eyes move along the sigil and it glows, and the ground crumbles beneath all of them. Suddenly, as if widely awake, he can hear all five of them scream on the way down.

The fall is short lived. His lower back hurts when he hits the floor, but everybody seems perfectly okay. Just a little sore. No cuts, but maybe a bruise or two. The entire room is a brilliant blue. There’s a large body of water in the cave, glowing blue like the sigil before they all fell. The whole thing is surrounded by slightly different sigils all in a circle around the body of water, all in a ring. The others are amazed. Lance’s jaw was dropping at the sight, taking it all in.

“The carvings are everywhere,” he notes.

“They’re glyphs,” Shiro corrects, softly.

In the center of the body of water is a large statue of a dragon. It’s beautifully done, if not a little worn on some of its edges. It’s gorgeous, but huge. It’s easily the size of a building, and Lance has no idea how anybody could carve anything quite so large.

Pidge moves closer to it, inspecting it. “Is this it? Is this Voltron?”

“It must be,” Shiro replies, looking it over. It didn’t look like much of a weapon at all. Just a statue. And yet, there was such a powerful energy around it that it seemed it was impossible for it to be anything else. Keith looks starstruck.

“This is what's been causing all of this crazy energy out here. Looks like there's a force field around it.”

A force field? Lance has no idea what Keith is talking about. The others seem unphased, and Lance wonders if they are seeing something that he can’t. Actually…

“Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?” Lance asks, genuinely. Shiro looks back at him, seeming confused. “Hmm? No,” he replies. Lance turns back to the dragon statue, moving around. The statue’s eyes do seem to be following him. It was strange, but somehow peaceful.

“It’s eyes are closed, Lance,” Pidge comments. He doesn’t respond. Not when the statue’s eyes are so definitely open, staring right into Lance, as if reading his entire soul. He feels suddenly cold, but not in a bad way. Cold like going to the beach on a day that’s scorching hot, relief washing over his skin and drowning his presence in an unspoken comfort. Present.

Lance’s voice sounds a little foggy. “Yeah. The eyes are totally following me.”

He walks forwards, and the others gasp after he steps into a certain point. He can hear Pidge behind him, knocking on something that sounds like a drum underwater. He doesn’t look back, fixated on the figure before him. The glyphs around them start to glow a bright blue, the water moving inwards and surrounding both Lance and the statue in a sphere of blue water. Strangely enough, Lance finds himself completely able to breathe. He can barely make out the others yelling at him, moving up the water to place his hands on the dragon’s nose.

It’s then that they all get a vision. Five, large dragons of different shapes and sizes coming together into one room. Five riders, sitting comfortably in the mouths of their dragons, standing on their teeth of all things. Comfortable, where a normal person could never be. The figures, nonspecific in shape and form, climb up to the top of their dragons’ heads, holding on to their horns and disappearing into their magic. The five dragons, leaning their heads together, seem to lose their earthly shape and momentarily become blinding light, the nonspecific figure of something godly and magical cutting through the air. Not much like a dragon at all, but almost like a person. A god.

Lance opens his eyes and the water surrounding them seems to fall. The statue of the dragon seems to shift into scales, yellow eyes staring right at him. He doesn’t move his hands from their now blue face, climbing up to lean his forehead against the space between her eyes.

He turns to the others, voice uncertain. “Uh. Did everyone just see that?” he asks, as if he wasn’t still resting against a supposedly extinct magical being.

Hunk is the first to reply, mystified. “Voltron is a god. Voltron is a huge, huge awesome series of dragons!”

Pidge sounds excited. “And this dragon is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are.”

Shiro’s voice is a little flat. Maybe a little scared. The wounds of the Galra are still fresh in his mind. “This is what they’re looking for.”

Keith can’t take his eyes off the large beast, watching it lower Lance down to the ground, gently. “Incredible.”

The dragon starts to move her head in the center of them all, leaning towards them. Lance looks at the others, expectantly. “I think she wants us to climb on,” he replies. Hunk looks absolutely terrified by the concept, and the others look unsure, but Lance finds himself gently climbing up her spikes until he’s nestled comfortably on her neck. It feels strangely right, like there is a spot for him here. The others are reluctant to climb, but the Blue dragon opens its eyes and the others find themselves nervously scrambling, as if she would hurt them if they didn’t. It’s hard to say no to a lizard maybe 100 times your size.

The dragon moves her head, and Lance can hear her make a noise like an avalanche. It sounds like a trill or a purr, a deep rumbling in her throat. It makes the others nervous for a moment, but he can feel that she’s satisfied, and the noise is somewhat comforting to him.

That is, until she abruptly takes to the air.

The large dragon lurches forwards through the top of the cave, calling loudly when she’s free. Hunk lets go for a second out of fear, but doesn’t fall when Lance looks back, panicked. He’s not holding on, but it’s like there’s some invisible force holding Hunk in place. Like a chair’s backing. All of them are completely secure, and Lance can feel Blue beam with amusement, as if she’s finding it hilarious the concept that she would ever let a rider fall off of her.

This really shows itself when she does twirls in the air, and Lance realizes all of a sudden that it’s him. He’s the one telling her where to go, somehow. He wills her to move right and she does. Left, and she follows. There’s not even a second of delay. He’s not physically moving, but it feels like something inside of him is. It’s like driving a car. He is the one with full control, despite everything. It’s one of the most alien feelings in the world.

Somehow, it’s like the others can feel it. They can tell that he’s moving, though somehow without his body. Through his bond with the dragon. Mumbling to himself, he says, “Okay. Got it. Now, let's try this.”

Pidge and Hunk are screaming. Keith moves as if pushed back into an invisible seat, like Hunk. He groans, not enjoying this in the slightest. “You are - the worst - pilot - ever!”

Garrison vehicles start to pull below them, but Lance is paying them absolutely no mind. Hunk looks like he’s going to be sick. Blue suddenly lurches in another direction, moving them to the edge of the desert, and then taking them out to sea.

\---

The Dragon, they soon understand, can talk to Lance. Not as in the common tongue, but as in feeding ideas to Lance’s mind itself. It’s much like how he pilots, really. On the way, they see a ship approaching the Plutonian Beach, a large aircraft that makes the air around it heavy with the distinct metallic taste of raw, unprocessed magic. It makes Hunk throw up into the ocean below.

The ship leaves after the dragon as soon as it’s in range, flying so fast it was almost mirroring the Dragon in terms of speed. But then, something amazing happens.

Ever since they were really little, all the stories of Dragons they have ever heard have been surrounded by the mystery of them. They could fly from continent to continent with no trouble. The cursed oceans and skies responded to their magic, which let them travel from one place to another. It was a mystery. Scientists thought that it had something to do with the magic they radiated from their bodies, but even then that did not explain their ability to get through the Ocean’s curse. They said that the Sky also shows the properties of the Ocean’s curse, but that the curse was stronger in water and weaker in air. It would explain why aircraft, theoretically, can make it back, while boats never can. Even then, that was as close of an approximation as possible.

To have everything debunked, before your eyes, is something Lance was sure he would never see in his entire lifetime. The dragon opens its mouth and roars, a blast of cold air like a smoke ring leaving quickly and forming a portal in front of it. The dragon moves through and it closes behind it, right at the tip of its tail. The ship cannot follow them any longer. Ahead, another continent approaches that none of the five have ever seen before. By the mountains, there is a tower so foreign and strange that radiates a subtle magic, like a bear sleeping. It is obviously Elven by design alone. Lance can’t believe his eyes.

There’s some banter between the five, but it subsides when the blue dragon sets them down on one of the points of the large Elven castle. It’s like seatbelts unbuckling, allowing for all of them to slowly climb off. Pidge almost slips, but Lance sees Shiro catch him, and relaxes. They all slowly climb up, when the dragon suddenly stands tall and stiff, roaring into the air.

“Keep your guard up,” Shiro warns. Pidge looks around, but after seemingly seeing no problems, turns back to Shiro. “Something wrong?”

“My crew was captured by magic users once. I’m not going to let it happen again,” Shiro warns, strongly. The dragon places it’s forehead against the door, and it slowly opens for the group. Hunk is shaking like a leaf, looking over at the Dragon. “Oh, the door is open, and you didn’t eat us. Guess I was wrong about you.” The dragon, not reacting to the comment, lays down comfortably under the sun and closes its eyes, tail curling over its snout.

They walk inside, a staircase awaiting them. A voice chimes in like it’s coming from the walls, in a dead language that none of them can understand.

After a certain point, light flashes around them, going up and down their bodies. Hunk panics and Shiro looks just about ready to fight, but then nothing happens. The lights turn on for them, as if this castle had been waiting for them to arrive. Lance absolutely does not like this.

Calling out to the voice in the walls, Shiro does not sound too happy. “Why are we here? What do you want with us?” The walls do not reply back.

Following the hall, the group assumes it best to follow the path with the working lights. They wander into some sort of room, with pods mounted on the wall. Two figures are inside each, one with long white hair and the other with short orange hair, mustache included.

Hunk backs off somewhat. “Are those guys… dead?”

Suddenly, the pods begins to open up. The figure with white hair falls forwards, and Lance is the one who rushes to catch her. The figure with orange doesn’t move at first, leaning back into the pod instead of forwards. The white-haired one whispers something, but it’s in the same language as the voice coming from the walls, and nobody can understand.

That is, until the princess-looking figure socks Lance right in the nose, and he drops her.

“Hey! What’s the big idea? I stopped you from falling!” he yells. The girl falls, yelling “Quiznack!” on the way down. The older man, seeing a present danger, rushes forward to fight the intruders. Hunk lifts his arms up in front of his chest as a sign of surrender. Pidge is frozen still, unsure of what to do. There’s a lot of yelling coming from both sides.

After some time, it seems that the old man starts to have a realization. He attempts a few, different sounding languages until he hit one that Keith, of all people, could understand.

Keith answers back, his own words slightly strange even for the language that he’s speaking. Lance is the one that looks lost. Shiro pauses. “He speaks Korean. Not fluently,” he explains.

Lance nods. “Do you think the aliens speak Spanish? Or any of the ‎Arawakan‎ languages, like Taíno?”

Pidge shrugs. “I only speak English, but I know the bare minimum of Italian.”

Hunk is a bit shier in this one. “I speak Samoan. Y’know, to speak to my grandma.”

Shiro is the last to add in. “I speak Spanish, Japanese, and some Chinese,” he suggests, gently. “I might mix them up somewhat, though.”

The Elves seem to calm down with the attempted languages. They don’t understand Spanish, but Coran vaguely understands Korean. The translations come up as awkward, because some of their knowledge in other languages were not that great. Coran, for example, knew way more Korean than Keith did. Allura spoke Taíno just fine, but neither of them spoke it well enough to be able to say more than just “we aren’t going to try and kill each other right? Good. Also, we rode a big lizard here.” On another note, Lance learned the Taíno word for dragon. Coran started to speak with Shiro in Chinese, not knowing any of what Allura was speaking. When Hunk hesitantly asked a question in Samoan and Coran and Allura both reacted, finally having a language that three of them at least spoke fluently. Almost embarrassingly, Lance did find out that Shiro spoke way nicer Spanish than he did.

Language barrier mostly worked around, they were able to explain what happened. The blue lion took them to the castle, and they needed to find the others. The Galra were after them.

As it turns out, the word Galra is something that needs absolutely no translation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can tell, the fic is slowly diverging from canon dialogue because the verse it's in doesn't allow for some of the conveniences of the show. Hopefully Chapter 3 will just have organic stuff. I skimmed over some extra exchanges that were literally just the dialogue from the show, like the fart joke Lance made on the way to the castle. Their conversations from canon are still implied to have had happened, but I didn't want to just have a transcript clone because that would be really, really boring. See you all next chapter! Remember to write [comments, that is]. Love ya

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Juat a reminder that my blog, http://askingvoltron.tumblr.com, is an ask blog where you guys can submit questions and I'll draw or write a reply. If you want to ask questions to these specific versions of the Paladins, feel free! Just start them off with [Dragon AU] or FT!Paladins:
> 
> Please leave comments because they keep me thriving. Thank you! <3


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